Bonnie Brown in Critical Care, Family Asks for Prayers

The family of Country Music Hall of Famer Bonnie Brown is asking for prayers for the country singer as she battles for her life in a critical care unit.

A post on Jim Ed Brown's official Facebook page on Saturday (July 2) reads, "The Brown Family is reaching out to ask you all to pray for Bonnie. Bonnie is the younger sister of Jim Ed and she is in critical care battling lung cancer. She experienced complications from a blood clot and we hope you will all lift her up in prayer. Thank you in advance."

Along with Jim Ed Brown and her sister Maxine, Brown was a member of the Browns. The trio rose to fame in the 1950s, releasing a string of hit singles that included “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow,” “I Take the Chance,” “Just as Long as You Love Me,” “Money,” “I Heard the Bluebirds Sing,” “Would You Care” and “Beyond the Shadow,” as well as their biggest hit, 1959′s “The Three Bells,” which reached No. 1 in both country and pop. The Browns joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1963, but by 1967 Bonnie and Maxine had decided to retire, and Jim Ed Brown became a solo act.

The 78-year-old was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame as a member of the trio in October of 2015, shortly after she was diagnosed with lung cancer in September. In a bitter coincidence for her family, that diagnosis came just three short months after Jim Ed Brown passed away from a different form of lung cancer.

“Two (diagnoses of lung cancer) in one family in one year is hard to take. … It’s really such a shock to me,” Brown said in revealing her illness (quote via the Tennessean).